Quick-release anchor



Aug. 26, 1969 c, ZAKA|T|S ET AL 3,463,112

QUICK-RELEASE ANCHOR Filed April 19, 1968 INVENTORS ROBERT C. ZAKAITISJOSEPH JACEVICIUS BY M $4 ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,463,112QUICK-RELEASE ANCHOR Robert C. Zakaitis and Joseph Jacevicius, both of61 Arlington St., Worcester, Mass. 01604 Filed Apr. 19, 1968, Ser. No.729,137 Int. Cl. B63b 21 24 US. Cl. 114-208 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE Fluke anchor including a shank, a shaft crossing the shank,flukes pivotally mounted on the shaft, a fluke lock on the shaft withmeans for limiting its rotary motion with respect thereto, said lockbeing elongated and extending a substantial distance along said shank, areleasable latch for the lock, said latch having resilient meansnormally urging it towards the fluke lock and holding it in positionwith the flukes locked in an anchoring position, and means to easilyrelock the flukes.

Background of the invention Quick release fluke anchors have long beenknown and examples are shown in the following United States patents:2,415,605, Newby, Feb. 11, 1947; 2,576,172, Burleson, Nov. 27, 1951;2,709,980, Christie, June 7, 1955; 2,797,658, Doty, July 2 1957;2,856,882, Raynor, Oct. 21,1958.

However, the present invention provides an anchor of this type which issafer and more easily actuated for the reason that the locking memberfor the flukes is elongated and extends a considerable distance alongthe anchor shaft, remote from the fluke axis. In the prior art the flukelocking means is located generally coexistent with the axis ofrelatively rotary motion of the flukes and this places a great strain onthe lock such as to tend to cause damage to the parts, breakage, etc.

In addition, the lock is easily reset by moving the shank relative tothe flukes while holding the latter; or the entire anchor may be set onthe ground or deck, the flukes moved into the desired position, and thenthe latch is merely stepped upon to move the lock back to its latchingposition.

Summary of the invention The present invention provides a safetyreleasable fluke anchor construction including a shank having an axiallymovable latch member normally resiliently urged in a direction towardthe fluke end of the shank, the flukes being mounted on a cross shafthaving only a limited degree of rotation with respect to a member actingas a fluke lock, said fluke lock member being elongated and extendinggenerally toward the axially movable latch, said lock having cammededges at each side of a latch-receiving notch and being snapped intofluke-locking position simply by stepping on it, the latch beingretractable against its resilient means, the elongated nature of thelock preventing damage to the anchor and especially to the fluke lock.Also, a simple pin lock which is removable can prevent retraction of thelatch under all circumstances when it is not desired to permit unlockingof the flukes.

Brief description of the drawings FIG. 1 is a top plan view illustratingthe invention;

FIG. 2 is a section on line 22 of FIG. 1, and

FIG. 3 is a View similar to FIG. 2 and illustrating the manner in whichthe fluke lock becomes latched.

Description of the preferred embodiment To illustrate the invention,there is provided a relatively elongated shank which may enclose most ofthe mechanism but it is preferred that it be open at the sides, havingparallel walls 10 as shown in FIG. 1, an end 12, and an intermediatestrut 14. A rotary shaft 16 passes through walls 10 at the fluke end ofthe shank opposite the rope or cable eye 18 at the end 12. By havingmost of the shank open as shown, it is much easier to clean of mud andthe like.

The eye 18 is connected directly to an elongated axially movable latchgenerally indicated at 20, which latch may pass through a resilientmember 22 shown as elastometric but which may of course be a spring ifthis should be desired. The latch 20 has a free end 24 and is guided inits motion in the strut 14 and end 12, there being appropriate aperturesin these members for this purpose.

The shaft 16 has a limited rotary motion with respect to the ends 28 and30 of the shank walls which are apertured to receive the same. Pivotallymounted on pins 32, 32 are a pair of more or less conventional flukes34, 34 and on these flukes there may in turn be pivotally mounted as at36, 36 a pair of spikes 38, 38 which have a limited motion between thepositions shown in FIG. 1. The flukes themselves have a limited pivotalmotion about the axes of the pins 32, 32 and as described they are alsocapable of a rotary motion together with shaft 16 for the purpose ofengaging with the bottom.

Relatively rotatably mounted on the shaft 16 there is a barrel 40located between the terminal ends 28 and 30 of the shank walls 10. Thisbarrel has an elongated narrow radial projection 42 terminating in alatching notch 44 in the free end thereof, see particularly FIGS. 2 and3, for the reception of the free end 24 of the latch 20. Projection 42is the fluke lock. At the edges of the lock 42 adjacent to the notch 44there are cam surfaces 46, 46 which facilitate the positioning of thelock 42 in latching relationship by simply pressing down in thedirection of arrow 48 in FIG. 3 as by means of the foot When the anchoris lying on the ground or deck. This action will cause the latch 20 tobe retracted against the action of the resilient means 22 to an extentto allow it to snap into notch 44. It will be noted that the lower edge50 and the upper edge 52 of the lock 42 substantially coincide with theupper and lower edges of the shank walls 10, so that when the pressureis exerted on the lock 42 as indicated by arrow 48, it does not tend topass the position of the latch 20 but is stopped by the ground or deck.

The barrel 40 which is integral with the lock 42 is provided with a pairof spaced, aligned, circumferential recesses generally indicated at 54and 56. These recesses receive a cross pin 58 therein, this pin beingmounted in the shaft 62 and extending into recesses 54, 56 preventingexcess motion of the lock 42 as for instance past shoulders 60, 60 inthe respective notches.

By this means the flukes may rotate to a limited extent with respect tothe lock 42, and this extent is indicated by the dotted lines in FIG. 2,these dotted lines being identified as at 62. When the parts are latchedas in FIG. 2, the lines 62 indicate the extent of motion of the flukes,but when the lock '42 is released, the flukes as well as the lock mayextend to the opposite direction, i.e., they have a full 360" capabilityof revolution with respect to the axis of shaft 16. Assuming the brokenline positions of the flukes in FIG. 1, the anchor can of course bewithdrawn from whatever kind of obstacle that it is engaged with, as thedirection of tension thereon is in the direction of the cable secured toeye 18, see arrow 64, FIG. 2.

At the same time however there is not an excess force capable of beingapplied to the locking means, i.e., to the free end 24 of the latch 20and to the parts of the lock 42 which comprise the edge portions of thenotch 44, so that damage to these parts is extremely unlikely even inthe event of considerable pressure being exerted by the flukes when intheir positions illustrated by the lines 62 in FIG. 2.

The invention operates as follows: The flukes are normally locked inanchoring position as indicated in FIGS. 1 and 2 by the latch and lockdescribed. The resilient means 22 opposes normal forces against rearwardmotion of the latch 20 to maintain the flukes locked in anchoringposition under a given pull or load on an anchor cable attached to eye1-8. If the anchor cable however is subjected to an overload, suchoverload will retract the latch 20 sufliciently to allow the lock 42 tobecome free thereof and of course this immediately swings the lock 42and the flukes into the broken line position of FIG. 1 because theanchor line is being pulled upon. This action takes place even underconditions of extreme pitching or deliberately by the use of manualstrength on the eye 18.

If it is not desired to allow the lock to become unlatched, as at timeswhen the boat is unattended, a pin 66 is thrust through holes 68 in thewalls and corresponding hole 70 in the lock 42, thereby holding the lockin place whether released by the latch 20 or not. A cotter pin, or asolid pin, can conveniently be used for this purpose.

Nipples or pins 72 on the latch 20 provide for assembling the same andthe resilient device 22. Appropriate diametrical slots are provided inthe latter to slide the latch through it, and then the latch is turnedto misalign the nipples or pins and the slots so that the former bear onthe washer 74 but are not connected to it.

The eye 18 has a ball or conical member 76 secured to it seating in alike socket in the end portion 12 of the shank. By this means the latchcan be retracted even at an angle to the axis of the latch and does notstick.

The angles of the flukes and the shape thereof are capable of beingchanged, depending on conditions likely to be encountered. The resilientmember 20 can be varied by adding washers to latch 20, e.g. at the leftside of washer 74.

We claim:

1. An anchor comprising a shank, means for attachment to an anchor cableadjacent one end of the shank, a relatively rotatable transverse shaftat the opposite end of the shank, flukes on the shaft,

a fluke lock rotatably mounted on the shaft, means limiting the degreeof rotation of the lock with respect to the shaft,

said lock being elongated and extending radially with respect to saidshaft and normally having a position aligned with the shank, said lockextending a substantial distance along said shank and having a free end,a notch in the free end,

a latch mounted for longitudinal motion on said shank,

resilient means normally holding said latch in latching position withrespect to said notch in the lock but being retractable against theresilient means to 4 release the lock, whereby the shaft is free torotate on its axis and the flukes are free to rotate therewith, and

cooperating means on the corresponding ends of the latch and the lockfor retracting the lock so that it snaps into the notch upon alignmenttherewith.

2. The anchor of claim 1 wherein the last named means includes camsurfaces on the lock at the sides of the notch, said cam surfaces beingadapted to retract the latch against the action of the resilient meansto allow the latch to engage said notch upon alignment therewith.

3. The anchor of claim 1 wherein the last named means includes camsurfaces on the lock at the sides of the notch, the lock having a widthsubstantially equal to that of the shank.

4. The anchor of claim 1 wherein the last named means includes camsurfaces on the lock at the sides of the notch, the lock having a widthsubstantially equal to that of the shank, and an opening in the shank toreceive the lock.

5. The anchor of claim 1 wherein the last named means includes camsurfaces on the lock at the sides of the notch, the lock having a widthsubstantially equal to that of the shank, and an opening in the shank toreceive the lock from either side thereof.

6. The anchor of claim 1 including means transverse of the shank to lockthe lock to the shank.

7. The anchor of claim 1 wherein the means limiting the respectiverotation of the lock with respect to the shaft comprises a barrel on thelock, the barrel surrounding the shaft, a partial circumferentialopening in said barrel, a pin in said shaft extending into said opening,the ends of the opening forming shoulders limiting the respectiverelative rotation of the lock on the shaft.

8. The anchor of claim 1 including means transverse of the shank to lockthe lock to the shank, said last-named means being manually removable.

9. The anchor of claim 1 including means transverse of the shank to lockthe lock to the shank, said last-named means being manually removableand comprising a pin extending through corresponding holes in the lockand shank.

10. The anchor of claim 1 including a tapering member on the latchseated with respect to a like socket on the shank allowing for operatingthe anchor by a pull on the latch at an angle to the axis thereof.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,709,980 6/ 1955 Christie114-208 2,856,882 10/1958 Raynor 114-208 2,887,980 5/ 1959 Madden114-208 TRYGVE BLDQ, Primary Examiner

